KUWAIT CITY, Sept 1: They say “Billy the Kid” was one of the best gunmen in the old American Wild West, because at a very tender age his determination knew no bounds — he used his guns with so much confidence not seen before and with such an unerring accuracy that all the bullets found their mark. But even he would have come out second best Tuesday evening because someone much younger than him showed extraordinary skills with a gun to emerge champion in the “Eagle’s Nest Fun Shoot” organized by Filipino Action Shooting Team (FAST) at the Mayadeen Shooting Range in Subhan.
This honor went to Saleh Al Awadhi, not only young at heart but also very tender in age as he is just celebrating his 15th birthday. Over the years, FAST members have seen this young boy grow not only in height but also in maturity with a gun, mainly due to his dedication to the sport he loves, to reach the pinnacle of the sport.

Al Awadhi showed his determination and maturity when he held off a very skilled veteran shooter in the form of FAST Tournament Director Mr. C to win the tournament. Both these gunmen were a model of accuracy and they had an identical shoot with 17 hits in Alpha and 3 in Charlie but the young shooter prevailed when it was found that that he had been a little faster on his feet.
This weekly event was organized by FAST President Manny Cornelio and FAST Vice-President Chito Lamigo and other office bearers who made sure that the competition ran smoothly under the supervision of Eric Ragma, one of the finest Range Officers in the country. But FAST members owe the success of the event to the support Gen Ahmed Al Saleem, the director of Mayadeen Shooting Range, and his dedicated staff.

FAST Tournament Directors Mr. C and Raja Sulaiman designed this week’s scenario as the “3rd Musketeer” Chris Veitch was out of the country on holidays. Once again showed that they have not run out of ideas to come up with exciting courses of fire every week that not only test the skills of the competitors but also bring up everyone together once a week in a friendly competition that enhances camaraderie and boosts everyone’s discipline and sportsmanship.
This week’s shoot saw the competitors start off by sweeping the floor before, on an audible signal, they were required to retrieve the pistol from inside a gun case lying on top of a table while the spare magazine had to be kept in the holster before running towards the course. A net had been put in place to cover the area and was to be considered a wall that required the competitors not collide into it.
At the start the gunmen had to be in a mandatory kneeling position with a charge line — the initial two targets had to be engaged using only one hand (right) followed closely by 3 targets that needed to be tackled through a window. The next two targets had to be engaged with the left hand and since the event was free style shooters could fire at the targets while standing or kneeling, in which ever position they felt comfortable, as long as they shot with their left hand. For the last three targets, the shooters were required to open a door in which there was a charge line. Double tap was required on each target.
An aggregate scoring method was applied in the event with hits in Alpha multiplied by 5, Bravo and Charlie by 3 and Delta by 1 divided by the time taken to complete the course.

With such a tough course in place, Saleh Al Awadhi displayed his determination and also showed that he has reached a milestone in shooting although he has been competing in such events from a very young age. Al Awadhi had stopped shooting for quite sometime to focus on his studies but he is now making sure that he uses the current holidays well to get back on his toes and on top of the sports he loves.
Saleh came up with a brilliant shoot this week using a Glock pistol, finishing the course with 17 hits in Alpha and 3 Charlie in 43.92 seconds that saw him walk home with 2.1403 point average. This was an extraordinary shoot by all standards and left most of the other shooters gaping in wonder.
Joining Al Awadi with 17 Alpha and 3 Charlie was someone who is said to be nearly four times the young shooter’s age and wise beyond the years in the form of FAST Tournament Director Mr. C who has never failed to make a mark in the weekly events.

This time all the wisdom, determination and the long years of shooting did not come in handy to beat the best on the day but still gave Mr C 2nd place, although with an excellent 1.9203 point average after going around the course in 48.95 seconds. A lot of credit goes to Mr. C, who has never failed to astound everyone with his accuracy, for keeping up with the very young lot of shooters and proving his point that he is still very “young at heart”. After Tuesday’s shoot, if anyone had any doubts in this regard evaporated very quickly.
Romano Marcelino slipped from the driver’s seat where he sat last week but he still stayed in the “Magical 3” although he missed one shot and also incurred a procedural error after he stepped on the charge line to be docked 20 points — 10 for the miss and 10 for the error— from his score. The penalty did not have too much effect on him because he made up most of the loss through speed for he went through the course like a speeding bullet, finishing in 31.66 seconds and collecting a 1.8004 point average composed of 11 Alpha, 1 Bravo, 6 Charlie and 1 Delta.
Faisal Al Zaid took 4th place, showing a lot of precision and at the same time being really fast on his feet as he completed the shoot in an excellent time of 29.11 seconds after collecting 10 Alpha, 1 Bravo, 6 Charlie and 1 Delta.

Al Zaid laughed aloud after his shoot as he could not believe that he had missed two of the easiest targets and been perfect on the most difficult — one involved the nearest targets one of which had to be engaged through the window and the other one through the door. But these missed shots could still not stop him from getting an excellent 1.7863 point average.
However, like in all the previous shoots, Al Zaid was not content with his shooting and he stunned everyone present when he went through the shoot again and picked up the highest score of the day — a whooping 3.1399 point average based on 16 Alpha and 4 Charlie in 29.30 seconds. It seems he took the extra half second in his reshoot to ensure that he made no mistakes. Unfortunately for Al Zaid, scores of the re-shoots are not counted towards the main competition and he had to keep his 4th place.
FAST Assistant Treasurer, Cesar Isidro made it into “Tough 5”, although this week again he dropped his magazine which resulted in him consuming quite some time — 44.05 seconds—to finish the course although he managed 17 Alpha and 1 Charlie before his left hand let him down and he missed two shots that brought him a 1.5437 point average.
Jeffrey Sweet, one of the FAST Tournament Directors, had a good laugh when one of the targets which had to tackled through the door fell down after he engaged it once resulting in him missing a shot. After laughing his heart out, Sweet got down to serious business as the rest of the bullets found their way to 11 Alpha, 6 Charlie and 2 Delta as he completed the shoot in 45.61 seconds that handed him a 1.4251 point average and placed him 6th.
Nestor Castillo seemed to have found his best running shoes this week as these carried him into 7th place after he achieved a 1.2508 point average in a reasonable speed of 32.78 seconds, shooting 11 Alpha, 5 Charlie, 1 Delta and missing 3 shots, all with the left hand.
Aniceto Manangan ,one of the most improved shooters, displayed a lot of accuracy to collect a 1.1940 point average based on 13 Alpha, 2 Charlie, 4 Bravo and one missed shot in 54.44 seconds.
Erick Elizondo appeared to slip in his performance this week as he found it quite difficult to shoot with his left hand, missing all the four shots. Erick, however, made sure that the rest of the bullets landed in all the right places —13 Alpha and 3 Charlie — as he ran through the course in 48.25 seconds for a 0.7047 point average.
Erick, disappointed with the shoot and himself, decided to go over the course one more time but is seems that that “Lady Luck” had decided not to come to the Mayadeen Shooting Range that day and just sent her representative — who didn’t have the same effect — as Erick failed to load the magazine properly which on discovery affected his concentration.
Erick missed 5 shots and took a long time to finish the course — 78.22 seconds — although he managed to get 10 Alpha and 5 Charlie that gave him a 0.1918 point average, much worse than the first attempt. He was lucky that only the first shoot counts as this score would have pushed him towards the bottom of the table.
In 10th place was Eric Gumabao who showed a lot of speed as he completed the course in 34.69 seconds but his accuracy for the A’s deserted him as he collected only 8 Alpha, 5 Charlie and 3 Delta that saw him walk home with a 0.5189 point average.
FAST Adviser Butch Alinea was among the fastest competitors as he took only 24.73 seconds to complete the course but his accuracy suffered as a result because he missed 4 shots while collecting 7 Alpha, 4 Charlie and 5 Delta that gave him a 0.4850 point average.
FAST Tournament Director Lambert Bernardo also showed good speed, going over the course in 30.26 seconds although he hit the net and decided to go back so that he would not land a procedural error penalty. But mistakes take their toll in one form or the other as he missed five shots while placing the rest of the bullets in 10 Alpha, 4 Charlie and 1 Delta that gave him a 0.4296 point average.
Tournament Director Raja Sulaiman ,one of the architects of this shoot, was again the brave one to initiate the competition but he seemed out of focus as the gun seemed too heavy in his left hand and he missed all 4 shots but once he transferred the weapon to his right hand the rest of the bullets found their way to 6 Alpha, 6 Charlie and 4 Delta in 34.66 seconds that saw him walk home with a 0.3462 point average.
Raja is one of those shooters who always try to improve their scores when they are not contented with their first attempt. So Raja went back to the course wearing his speed shoes for he was keen to prove to everyone on the range that he was “fleet of foot” and he succeeded, taking only 26.77 seconds to complete the course … but, yes there is a very big but, in his haste he left his shooting arm at the starting point and only discovered this loss at the finish resulting in him not getting any points.
He also looked around for “Lady Luck” but as said earlier she had taken the day off and her “assistants” who were present on the range lacked the same magic.
Frankie Santos was comfortably seated 3rd from the bottom of the table, although he did quite well on his feet and luck also favored him as the door was already open when went through it. It took him 30.95 seconds to go over the course with 10 Alpha, 3 Bravo, 1 Charlie while missing 6 shots that handed him a 0.0646 point average.

Julius Taladron, who has been missed from the arena for over two years showed that he had not misplaced his touch when he came up with a 0.0503 point average after collecting 7 Alpha, 1 Bravo, 4 Charlie and 3 Delta but he missed 5 shots in 59.61 seconds.
Amin Ahmed Amin seems to believe in consistency as he remained glue to where he was last week, towards the bottom end of the table as he could only generate a 0.0219 point average after shooting 6 Alpha, 6 Charlie, 3 Delta and missing 5 shots in 45.62 seconds.
Meanwhile, two other gunslingers failed to score as Edmundo Martinez did not seem to be in his best form while Larry Perea was disqualified due to unsafe gun handling. Safety first has always been the priority at the range and everyone is always reminded of this fact by Range Officer Eric Ragma and FAST officials during the briefing for the course of fire before the start of each event.
Over the last two weeks there has been a professional line up with members who use weapons in their professional life shooting out of competition. Range Officer Eric Ragma was in top shape as he once again ruled this category after shooting 14 Alpha, 4 Charlie and 2 Delta in only 29.03 seconds to take home a 2.8936 point average, the second best of the day after Faisal Al Zaid. But you can bet that the young Saleh Al Awadhi was watching all the top shooters to learn from the masters how to improve his shoot.

Mohammad Samara — who recently won five tournaments in a row, which resulted in the separate shoot for the professionals — compiled the highest number of Alpha with 19 but he missed one shot right towards the end while using left hand. This, however, did not stop him from acquiring a 2.5765 point average as he completed the run in 32.99 seconds.
Samara took to the stage once again and improved his time as he completed the course in 22.96 seconds but he seemed to have sacrificed accuracy for speed as he had only 11 hits in Alpha, 3 in Charlie, 3 in Delta and 3 missed shots that brought him a 1.6115 point average but Range Officer Eric Ragma noted he had only used 18 bullets.
Every week an attempt is made to come up with a different course of fire that not only keeps the interest alive in the sport but also tests the skills of all the shooters to the maximum.
FAST officials would like to invite everyone on Tuesday evenings to the Mayadeen Shooting Range in Subhan for their Weekly Fun Shooting Competition. For details contact FAST President Manny Cornelio 6673-7298 and FAST Vice-President Chito Lamigo 9958-2781.
The range is open from 2000 hours-2300 during the Holy Month of Ramadan.